City council to interview manager candidates Friday, Feb. 14

Palmer’s city council worked through an agenda of routine business items including setting dates for interviews of the finalist city manager candidates. Those are set for Friday, Feb. 14, with a backup date of Feb. 21 in case the interviews aren’t completed Friday.

The city manager job is vacant and is now filled temporarily by John Diumenti, who is also the city’s airport manager.

Five finalists for the position are being considered but two contenders have been given top scores by a human resources consultant. However, council members were told Tuesday that the highest-scoring candidate, Kolby Hickel Zerkel of Anchorage, may take a position as manager of U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan’s Alaska office.

Zerkel is currently the deputy municipal manager in Anchorage.

Hickel will likely be interviewed anyway if she desires, the council agreed, but in all likelihood the second highest-scoring contender, Scott Meszaros, county manager of Caswell County, Alabama, may now be the favored candidate. Meszaros is a former Alaskan.

The Tuesday meeting went smoothly and mostly without the testy comments from some council members that have characterized recent meetings except for one remark by council member Virginia Hudson

The tension in recent meetings prompted Mayor Steve Carrington to include, in his Mayor’s report, a plea that discussion in the council meetings be focused and respectful.

“Recent meetings have included a touch of chaos. Now seems like a good time to review what our city codes say about how meetings should work,” Carrington wrote in the Mayor’s Report.

He included a summary of the Palmer Municipal Code speaking procedure that included, “while speaking (members) shall confine him or herself to the subject under debate, shall refrain from personalities, and shall not refer to any other member of the council except in a respectful manner, and that no member shall interrupt another while speaking.”

In another action, this on a city budget amendment for legal fees, council member John Alcantra made a motion for $22,500 to be shifted from the city airport Enterprise Fund to the city General Fund to pay legal fees for the city.

Interim manager John Diumenti has asked for $2,500 in airport-related legal fees related to lease negotiations but Alcantra moved to increase the amount and take it from the airport fund.

This is likely to raise concerns by the Federal Aviation Agency, however, the agency that funds many airport operation cost and which keeps a close eye on city budget actions related to the airport.

In one other action the council approved the purchase of a new police patrol vehicle for $71,500.

A final matter for the council was a report by the city’s attorney, Sarah Health, on a request from council members for information as to how the council can remove a member.

There was interest in this by two council members over another member’s legal problems, but underlying this are reports that other members may be targeted for removal including the mayor.

However, Heath told the council that it does not have authority to remove a member. That could happen if a member is convicted of a felony or misses a number of council meetings without absences being excused or other situations, but not simply a removal of other members.